Mix the yeast and yogurt in a large plastic bowl. Stir well until the yeast dissolves. Add the butter, olive oil and egg white, stir. Then add flour and salt slowly, knead. The dough shouldn't be sticky but should be soft. Divide the dough into 14 pieces. Make a little hole in it and then put 1 tbsp of the filling inside. Close it up, giving it a half moon shape.

Place parchment paper on an oven tray and arrange them on it. Put in a warm spot for about 30 minutes. Then, egg wash on top of each pogaca.

Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Place the tray on the middle rack. Bake until the top is a light golden colour. Place the Mayali Pogaca on the wire rack so it cools down a little bit. Serve it with tea as an afternoon snack or as breakfast.

No need of letting the dough rise after you mix it with the yeast? Except for the 30 minutes after you put the filling inside? Like in your other pogaca and pide recipes the dough has to wait for a couple hours.

Thank you thank you thank you! I have been making yeast pogaca for years using a complicated, time-consuming recipe with similar ingredients and a lot of separate steps, and these are so much easier and so much better! I'm so excited!

Hi Binnur ! Last month I was in Istanbul and I ate these in breakfast buffet. They told me its called Pocha. I loved it so much. I used to wait for breakfast just to eat Pochas. Tonight I was searching for its recipe since 2 hours. I finally got it. How can I thank you ?

I ended up putting in about 4 cups of flour so it wouldn't be sticky and I'm afraid it didn't rise well either. I wasn't sure where to put the pans for them to be warm only for rising (maybe warm setting in oven?) So they were basically at room temp.I'm not good with yeast breads and this one has proven a challenge.thanks for any insight you may have. Zeyneb

Hi Zeyneb,You should always add the flour gradually. The dough should be soft but it shouldn't stick to your hand. 4 cups flour is too much for this recipe:) The warm spot is supposed to be the corner of your kitchen or warm up the oven a little bit then turn the heat off.

love your site!Tried to make these, but they didnt rise and were quite greasy:((( the dough was quite oily, so I guess I put too much oil in! The trouble is, I dont know how much ONE CUP is? this is a unit of measurement I am not familiar with! So I just used a teacup and figured it was all about ratios..? but it didnt work! any idea where I went wrong? hope you can help, really want to make them work! thankyou !

I would like to ask you that can I replace the butter with baking margarine? I'm writing from Hungary, here we rarely use butter for the cookies, instead we using baking margarine. Do you think it will not cause any problem? :)I was in Istanbul second time a week ago, I felt in love with the city. I hope this little pogácsa (we call the same:-) will remind me forever to Istanbul.Thank you for your help!

Hi Szofie,Sure, you can use margarine instead of butter. Butter always gives extra taste and smell. That's why I always use butter:) Since the day I was born I am in love Istanbul...and I miss so much:(

Thank you sooooo much for this your recepie for pocha was excellent so simple to follow thank you! My husband is Turkish and I am Indian so when I surprised him he finIshed all of them in 2 days! Thanks :)

Dear Binnur, I am in Istanbul often, and LOVE the city... not least for it's wonderful food, of course! But I miss it very much when I am away... thank you SO MUCH for this website with such easy to follow recipes and for all the questions you answer. This website makes being away from Turkey just a little bit easier :D

Hi Binnur! i love your site, it's my favorite turkish cooking site! :) this recipe was wonderful, but i felt the dough was way too oily. would it be ok to cut down the butter and oil by say half? would that cause any drastic changes? thanks, Sally